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Sunday, August 26, 2012

BEIRUT — Syrian activists Saturday reported a massacre in a suburb of Damascus that may have claimed more than 200 lives in the last few days.

Some activists were estimating that the death toll could reach 300 as government forces continued an onslaught against Dariya, a suburb of the capital, using tanks, warplanes and snipers.

Residents found 122 bodies in the basement of a building still under construction, said Abu Kinan, an activist in Dariya. All appeared to have been executed, he said.

Independent confirmation of fatalities and specific events in Syria is difficult because of severe government restrictions on news coverage of the conflict.

Activists reported that about 70 people were killed elsewhere in Dariya on Saturday by government troops storming their homes or by snipers.

"There are many snipers. Every street has a sniper," Abu Kinan said. "They entered the town, and they control all of it now. If someone goes into the street, the snipers begin firing."

Ambulances trying to transport hundreds of wounded, as well as families attempting to flee, are navigating the streets at night without headlights to avoid becoming obvious targets, he said. But the ambulances don't have many options on where to take their patients.

"There are no more field hospitals; they were all shelled," Abu Kinan said. "The injured are considered dead."